For Women’s History Month AAUW presented the documentary RBG on March 13th at the Amador Senior Center. It was open to the public and brought over 40 people. The Pine Grove Civic Improvement Club graciously brought their popcorn machine and topped the movie off with freshly made popcorn! 

For those of you who have not seen RBG, this movie is a must for young an old, women and men. Ruth Bader Ginsburg to an inspiration to all of us. Happy 86th birthday on March 15th!

Libations & Conversations

 

Date: March 26th

Time: 5:30 PM

Location: Teresa's Place, 1235 Jackson Gate Road, Jackson

Our speaker for the meeting and discussion is Alicia Miller of Teresa's Place. The Topic for discussion is "Early Business Women in Amador County". Alicia is the granddaughter of Teresa Bassignani, who opened Teresa's Place in the 1920's as a boarding house for the miners which evolved into the family restaurant we enjoy today. Alicia will present her grandmother's story which highlights the strength and perseverance of the women during that era. You are welcome to attend this no fee presentation. No need to RSVP, just come join the discussion and bring a friend if you wish!

Tech Trek Meet & Greet

 

Date: April 11th

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Sutter Creek Community Center

If you missed last year's event, make sure you come this year. The Q&A with last year's Tech Trekkers is super informative and fun. Pizza and soda will be provided.

AVID – What is it and how can you help?

By Mel Welsh

 

Mentoring Opportunities — Ione Jr. High

A meeting was held on October 26, 2018 at Ione Jr. High. In attendance were Sandee Bowman, Mel Welsh, Tara Hannah (science teacher) and Andrew Gardner (Vice Principal).

 

To begin our bigger picture and overall mentoring program , we want to begin at the Junior High level and take the girls through or up to college entrance. The AVID program offers an entree for AAUW Amador to connect immediately in a way that is valuable to the schools and the students. It will set a foundation for mentoring and promoting Tech Trek, Speech Trek, other AAUW programs and our college scholarship program.  

 

The Immediate Program Opportunity: Accompany students and teachers on College Campus Tours - Brenda Walker and Mel Welsh accompanied 66 students along with two teachers, Tara Hannah and Donna Hirschfelt to UCD on Friday, February 28. The tour was led by UC Davis students who are academic super stars and great motivators in STEM fields. The students were engaged, took notes and asked some serious questions. 

Members who are interested would need to adhere to current state regulations for school participants: a TB test and fingerprinting.

 

Another opportunity is for Career Speakers — 30 minutes to share experience in your career. (would not need to go through fingerprinting and TB test noted below).

 

AVID program at Ione Jr. High . Acronym stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. 66 students with a large percentage of girls are in the in Ione Jr. High AVID Program, Tara (Science Teacher) is responsible for the program. It is a Nationwide program — 2nd year for Ione Jr. High. Jackson Jr. High also has the program.

 

The program uses a “Tutorology” process — groups of 6, working interactively on solutions for a student who has a specific challenge that they want to tackle. The students need one volunteer or teacher to 'facilitate' the group discussion-- not come up with a solution. Each group will have a White Board to utilize as a discussion tool. There is a Tutorial Report Form that will be made available for the group or tutor to complete. The school schedule is a Block Schedule, hence the days for the tutoring opportunities will vary from week to week: Tues/Thurs or Mon/Wed afternoons.

 

Students apply for the AVID program, so they want to be there. The program is designed for the under-served — i.e.: first in family to go to college, 2.5 to 3.5 GPA, financial constraints, special circumstances — very much the same criteria as we use for college scholarships. The program is funded by the State and then through the District. All teachers in the program participate in AVID Training, Cornell Notes is used as part of the program for the students to begin to gain familiarity with college level study tools.  

For more information on the program and/or to participate, contact Mel Welsh at [email protected] .

Science Saturday Volunteers Needed

May 4th

We need volunteers to run booths and help with logistics the day of the event. If you have an idea for a booth, please let the committee know so that we can add it to the list. Booths can encompass any STEM subject. If you don't want to come up with a booth idea, please volunteer to run one of the prepackaged booth-in-a-box. This event is a lot of fun as the students love all of the experiments. The event runs from 10 to 1 with about an hour of set up and tear down before and after. Please contact Karen Dickerson at [email protected] to volunteer.

Download Volunteer Form

Home Tour Mini Tours Scheduled

Those of you who have signed up to be a hostess at one of our sites, the orientation tours of the houses are scheduled on March 23 and April 6.

 

We will meet in the parking lot of the Pokerville Market in Plymouth so we can carpool to Fiddletown. Eat lunch before you come.

 

Here is the schedule for the Mini-Tours:

 

March 23                  Meet at Pokerville Market at 1pm

                                 1:30         Houseman/Kleinbrahm home

                                  2:30         Graham home

 

 

April 6                       Meet at Pokerville Market at noon

                                  12:30       Kaiser home

                                  1:45         Fields home

                                  3:00         Migliore home         

 

Claire Wait should be in touch with you soon to confirm your assignment (house and time slot) and will send you the hostess version of the home descriptions.

 

The first shift is from 10:30am-1:30pm and the second shift is from 1:15pm- 4:15pm, providing overlap and time to both set up and clean up at the sites.

 

Make sure that you take time when you are free not only to see the other houses but to stop by the Fiddletown Community Center for the Tea, to buy Raffle Basket tickets and to enjoy the Art Show.

HOME TOUR 2019 LOVES HOSTESS

Contact: Claire Wait, [email protected]

Hostesses are the heart of the home tour! Without hostess in each home all the work and planning of putting on our big fundraiser would be for naught. The homeowners count on us to explain the pride, devotion and work that they put into their homes. They make a magnanimous gesture: they let hundreds of people troop through their homes so we can raise money to give scholarships to women of many ages and stages of education. It is a project that connects us as AAUW members, promotes our Amador County communities, and provides fund for advancing the education of local women. That is a 3-Way Win!

Please volunteer as a hostess and enjoy yourself and enjoy helping our Branch.

Cookies for the Home Tour

Home Tour is upon us, and it is cookie time again….so bake 4 dozen of your favorite and delicious tea size cookies (no bigger than 1 1/2 inches in diameter or one to two bites) Please deliver your cookies to one of the following locations by 4:00 PM on Thursday, April 11.

Last Minute Notes about and Needs for the Home Tour

by Stephanie Young

We are in the home stretch for Home Tour preparations—Claire is finalizing hostess assignments, Kathy is getting all the tea stuff together and ordering tables & linens, Rita is reminding all the special interest groups about creating baskets for the raffle, Nancy is madly making signs, ads have been sold, the brochure will be at the printer by the time you read this and we have the mini-tours set.

 

There are a few more things we need because of the layout of this tour—please let me know if you can provide the following:

 

Parking Attendants

Pat Minyard (Lynn Morgan’s husband) has agreed to coordinate the parking attendant team this year. We had a lovely drive through Fiddletown, visiting all the parking venues (there are many small parking areas this year. We need two attendants for most of the areas for each shift, for a total of 22 if everyone wants to work only half the day (typical I think). So, if you have a spouse, friend or significant other who would like to help out that day, please contact Pat at [email protected]

 

Picnic or Box Lunches

In case you had not heard, there is no place to eat in Fiddletown except for Brown’s English Toffee and the cookies at our Tea. So, we recommend that you all bring a lunch from home that day or pre-purchase and pick up a lunch at one of three Plymouth vendors who have agreed to supply us with food. (see below)

 

PROSPECT CELLARS: AAUW Box Lunch Options                                     

To order call (209) 680-9003 or go to website at www.prospectcellars.com .

 

You may pick up your order beginning at 10am on April 13 at

Prospect Cellars, 9506 Main Street, Plymouth

 

Prospect Salad ............................................................. $9.00

 

Salad with Chicken: Mixed greens, grilled chicken breast, roasted tomatoes, candied walnuts, manchego cheese and a creamy walnut dressing served with Andrae's Baguette.

 

Grub Box—Italian...................................................... $12.00

Cheese and Chacuterie Tray: A selection of salami, sweet and savory jam, Valley Ford Estero Gold cows milk cheese, country olive mix, and Andrae’s savory crackers

 

 

VINTAGE MARKET: AAUW Box Lunch Options                                        

To order call (209) 245-3663. You may pick up your order beginning at 10am on April 13 at Vintage Market, 9393 Main St., Plymouth

 

Box Lunches include a sandwich, a bag of rustic chips and a chocolate chip cookie for $11.95.

 

Classic Panini Fresh mozzarella, basil pesto, balsamic onions and micro basil on house-made focaccia

 

Cobb Amador Turkey Smoked turkey, bacon, gorgonzola, avocado mayonnaise, tomatoes and greens on a ciabatta roll

 

Black Forest Ham & Cheese Shaved ham, fontina, marinated tomatoes, honey mustard, mayonnaise and greens on a ciabatta roll

 

POKERVILLE MARKET: AAUW Box Lunch Options                                 

To order call 209-245-6986 or email [email protected] . You may pick up your order beginning at 10am on April 13 at Pokerville Market, 18171 Highway 49, Plymouth

 

Sandwich Only:.......................................................................... $5.99

Sandwich and Chips with 16oz Soda:..................................... $6.99

 

Build Your Own Sandwich:

 

Meat:                   (Turkey) (Roast Beef) (Salami) (Ham) (Egg Salad)

Cheese:                (Swiss) (Jack) (Cheddar) (American)

 

Bread: or Roll:      (Wheat) (White) (Sour Dough) (Swirl Rye) (Sweet French) (Wheat)

                             (Sour Dough) (Dutch Crunch)

 

Condiments:        (Mayo) (Mustard) (Lettuce) (Onion) (Pickles) (Tomato)

Home Tour Tickets On Sale

You can buy your Home Tour ticket online at brownpapertickets.com or at one of four local outlets: Claypool’s Gift and Home in Martell, Ione Pharmacy in Ione, Pine Cone Drug in Pine Grove and Amador 360 in Plymouth. Tickets are $25 through April 12 and $28 on Tour Day.

 

There has been some discussion over the past couple of years about the branch policy of requiring all our members to buy a Home Tour ticket, whether or not they are able to attend the Home Tour. Some of you have indicated that you have obligations that will take you out of town on April 13, while most of you will be spending half the day being a hostess at one of our home sites. We can’t enforce the policy really—it is an expectation of membership that each of us supports the work of the branch, and this event is our primary fundraiser for everything that we do. I think Bonnie Krupp was the most eloquent in her response to this question:

 

Why should I buy a Home Tour Ticket?

When someone asks you about your membership in AAUW you probably answer, “We are a group of women who support education in our community. We award several thousand dollars in scholarships to local women and girls each year. We send several girls to Tech Trek camp each summer. We created and sponsor Science Saturday each May. We present programs, open to the community, on the state of health care in the county, feature local authors, celebrate Women’s History Month.” All things we should be proud of. But, these programs and awards are not funded by magic. It takes money.

 

When you buy a Home Tour ticket, $15.00 goes directly to our scholarship fund. That means that if every member buys a ticket we have one more $1,000.00 scholarship. Ten dollars of your ticket purchase goes toward funding the Home Tour, Science Saturday and our other community programs and branch activities. So, for the price of a good lunch, you can support all of these accomplishments and our AAUW mission to “advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research.”

Home Tour Home:

L J. and Janet Migliore

20460 Ponderosa Way

 

Architect Michelle Kaufmann, meeting a demand for affordable, well-designed, and green-built homes, designed prefabricated houses like the one owned by L. J. and Janet Migliore. In order to produce these homes most efficiently, they are put together on an assembly line. The Migliore home was purchased in 2006 from a company in Bend, Oregon. The exterior is constructed of Cor-Ten steel, a group of alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting. Instead, the steel forms a stable rust-like appearance after exposure to the weather to form a protective coating. 

The home consists of two modules, each 48 feet long. The environmentally friendly materials and products featured in the house include bamboo flooring, slate counters and tiles, indirect lighting and other energy-efficient attributes. All the kitchen and bath fixtures, the counters and storage units came with the house from the factory. The design makes use of an open floor plan which means that the kitchen, living room and dining room are all part of the same space. These rooms are situated in one half of the building with a long redwood deck across the back.  

The two-bedroom, one bath home comprises 1.350 square feet of space. Initially, the interior was painted white but Janet opted for a soft sage green in the module containing the living areas. Tangerine is prominent in the bedroom module. Much of the art consists of Janet’s quilt collection, most of which she executed herself. L.J.’s musical influences are seen in his collection of guitars and the organ he plays with the local band Double Take.

The bedroom-bath module is entered just beyond the kitchen and includes the laundry facilities. The design called for two bathrooms but the owners decided to make one large room instead. A second 20x20-foot redwood deck can be accessed directly from the master bedroom. The home sits on 10 acres of natural landscaping encircled by numerous walking paths. 

Home Tour Home:

Sherry and Dan Fields

21801 Helen Lane

 

On 75 acres outside of Fiddletown sits Dan and Sherry Fields’ dream home. Designed and built by contractor Rob Newman 6 years ago, the exterior is a combination of warm yellow stucco and cool corrugated steel. The owners wanted a home that flowed easily from room to room which was achieved through an open-plan design that consists of the living, dining and kitchen areas. The home is light-filled due to the many wood-clad windows and skylights as well as indirect and recessed LED lighting throughout. 

 

The Fields home is the opposite of fussy.  Furnishings are functional and light in weight with clean, crisp lines. Rooms contain only what is necessary for comfort. The 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home is painted in muted colors with darker accent walls. While there is considerable artwork shown, it is placed judiciously. Many folk-art pieces come from travels in Latin America and elsewhere, including an extensive collection of masks.  Other items are from family or acquired from local artists. 

 

The entryway ceiling is the customary height, but when stepping further into the home, the room opens and the ceiling rises. In the living area, the ceiling slopes up toward the back of the house to accommodate clerestory windows which provide additional light. Soffits were incorporated to vary the height of the ceiling and to delineate the various functions. 

 

The home features an extensive use of natural wood, such as the maple floors in the main rooms. Bedrooms are carpeted in muted colors to coordinate with the walls. Notice the use of various types of tile in the bathrooms and kitchen, including its use as an accent. Kitchen cabinets are from Ikea while the bathrooms cabinets were purchased from Lowe’s. The deck off the living room and the front entertainment area provide outdoor space for the owners to relax and enjoy friends and family.

Home Tour Home:

Fiddletown's Chew Kee Store

 

Fiddletown’s Chew Kee Store is unique in California, a time capsule that reflects 100 years of continuous habitation by Chinese immigrants and residents. Everything in the store is authentic, reflecting the daily life and work of its various inhabitants: herb doctor Yee Fung Cheung, who founded the store in the mid-1850s; merchant-gambler Chew Kee and wife Sigh Choy; and their adopted son “Jimmie” Chow (Fong Chow Yow) who was born and died in Fiddletown – much loved by the community and the only Chinese person buried in its public cemetery. Each resident left behind objects that tell the story of Chinese culture transplanted in emergent California.

Chinese workers using the traditional Chinese technique of rammed earth, resulting in thick mud-packed walls that cool the structure during hot summer days, constructed the building. The store served as a business and home for its residents. Besides the spacious commercial room at the front, private living space includes bedrooms, an office, and two add-on kitchens – much of the interior is built with hand-hewn wood. All furnishings and artifacts in the rooms are original.

 

From Fiddletown Preservation Society Website

Earth Day Volunteers Needed - April 27th

Earth Day Amador 2019 is looking for volunteers to do 2 hour shifts at a variety of stations such as entrance tables, prize tables. They could also use help on set up 9:00 - 10:30 AM, and take down 4:00 - 4:30 PM. Shifts would run from 10:30 - 12:30, 12:30 - 2:30, 2:30 - 4:30.



If you would like to volunteer, please contact Emily Beals [email protected].

Member Notes

Sunshine Report

If you know someone who should receive a sunshine card, please contact Lynne Brumit.

New Member Contact Information

Linda Young

Spouse: Bob Foley

8749 Lauren Ln

Jackson, CA 95642

[email protected]

(209) 257-1592

Birthday 2/12

Colorado State University, MS & PhD Food Science & Nutrition

University of Colorado, BA Chemistry